Danica Patrick crash with boyfriend another bumpy ride for Stewart race team

May 28, 2013|George Diaz, COMMENTARY

Danica Patrick's working relationship with her boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr. now has a few skid marks, commemorating their Hallmark moment on the race track.

Is there a card that says "Sorry for wrecking your car and ruining your night, honey?"

Danica and Ricky went bump in the night at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday night, and it wasn't in a good way. Stenhouse drove his car into the side of Patrick's car during Lap 319 of the Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600, ending her night on the track.

Her Go Daddy Chevy collided with Brad Keselowski, taking both cars out of the race. At least Stenhouse was able to carry on and finish 14th. Danica finished 29th.

Tony Stewart, Danica's boss, wasn't pleased.

"Ricky Stenhouse, I'd choke him right now if I could get to him," Stewart told Sirius XM Radio after the race. "One more lap of having to mess around with him... "

Ouch. That's never a good thing to hear when dealing with a guy who has an ornery disposition and is nicknamed "Smoke."

Consider this a cautionary tale kids, of what's it's like when you work with your snuggle bunny.

It's probably OK if you are pulling the same shift over at Starbucks, but the business of stock-car racing is precarious and often volatile.

Danica and Ricky going crash-bam-boom was bound to happen.

"We've been racing against each other as long as we've known each other," Danica said during Speed Weeks in February. "So, you know, there are times you're out there on the track, you don't even see each other, you're not even next to each other. Every time we have been, it's about respect and neither of us put up a big fight.

"So far it's been pretty obvious who is faster than who whenever someone comes up behind the other. For the most part it's been him faster than me, I would say, of course. The few times it's happened to me, he doesn't put up a fight. And I don't see that any different. I don't see us putting up a huge battle.''

And this wasn't a battle. Simply an accident in a sport where cars smash into each other a lot. Who knew?

At first, it appeared that Keselowski was the guy stirring up trouble on the track. "I was three wide with Danica and didn't know it and I cut her off and wrecked her and myself," Keselowski said after the incident, taking blame for the collision. "I feel bad for her and I send my apologies to her."

But upon further review, Stenhouse clipped the side of Patrick's car, shoving her into Keselowski's car and sending them both crashing into the wall.

Bad deal. But Stewart needs to chill.

His biggest headaches are self-inflicted. His Stewart-Hass Racing team stinks this year.

Or as Lee Spencer from FoxSports.com noted in the post-race news conference, while questioning race winner Kevin Harvick: "You've won two of the last four races. Stewart-Haas is running like a bag of [bleep]. Are you regretting the decision you made?"

We can now add a TV cable slithering across the track. It certainly was an oddball moment Sunday night at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, when a FOX Sports overhead TV camera cable snapped, forcing race officials to stop the Coca-Cola 600 for a half-hour to clean up the debris and allow pit crews to fix the damage on some cars.

The cable fell over the grandstands in Turn 4, injuring 10 fans, including three who were transported to an area hospital for further evaluation before being released.

So what next?

It remains uncertain whether the system will be in place for the Coke Zero 400 in July at Daytona International Speedway. Coming off a much more dangerous scenario during Speed Weeks, when a multicar accident left an estimated 32 people injured when car parts went flying into the grandstands, the last thing Daytona needs is another technical snafu of this magnitude.

NASCAR and FOX are reviewing the situation and will not use the system at upcoming races until that review is complete.

Johnson to Oklahoma: Five-time Sprint Cup Series Jimmie Johnson is going to Moore, Okla., on Thursday to help distribute food and other essentials to tornado victims.

"We have a big truck full of goods, and I'll be there with the Lowe's folks at the Lowe's store there in town and head on out and help the people in need," Johnson said Tuesday during a teleconference. "I'm excited to go first-hand to see and help and meet and pass out what is needed. Also a good friend of mine, Bob Stoops from the University of Oklahoma, he and his staff, and potentially some players want to get involved and come along as well. "

Johnson also said that he and his wife Channie have decided to take his race earnings from this week's events at Dover and donate that money to the relief efforts. Class act as always.

Last word: Kyle Busch, whose No. 18 M&M's Toyota Camry suffered severe significant damage with the flying cable deal at Charlotte: "I just heard a big thunk on the right-front tire and thought the right-front tire blew out. That's how hard it felt and what it felt like. It did have an effect of slowing my car down and I could feel it like, 'Whoa.' That's weird and I don't know that anybody has ever seen that. Maybe now we can get rid of that thing."